Falcon Owl Eagle
by Mask Maker 907
Summary: "Hmm…Not much of a princess are you. Not a swan, not even a goose…" The witch smirked and with a rusty chuckle she lightly pulled at the feathers now adorning Chi-Chi's chest. "How disappointing."
1. Chapter 1

Her feet hurt; they were no longer meant to stand so still on such flat ground. However, fear and a greater pain kept her from moving as her captor loomed over her.

"Hmm…Not much of a princess are you. Not a swan, not even a goose…" The witch smirked and with a rusty chuckle she lightly pulled at the feathers now adorning Chi-Chi's chest. Despite her best efforts, the daughter of the Ox King couldn't even flinch away. "How disappointing."

Her words were at complete odds with her amused expression and tone. With another laugh the woman rose to her feet, sweeping Chi-Chi up with her. "I suppose we'll just have to find another princess." She smirked again at the captive once girl. "A _real_ princess." She emphasized, as if it were Chi-Chi's fault her father took the name Ox King when he became a bandit. As if it were her fault that it became so popular people forgot he wasn't actually a king.

"I wonder what kind of bird you are." The woman continued, holding her up at arm's length to get a better look at her. Her new talons curled up and if she could just twist a little bit she'd be able to slash out and injure this witch. But Chi-Chi remained frustratingly limp in her hands. "Not that it matters. Such an ugly little thing you are. Why if I didn't think you'd be useful I'd just," she squeezed her hands a bit. Just enough to be painful, just enough to make Chi-Chi cry out. The woman cackled at the noise and tossed her into the air.

"Come now my new pet. We must continue our search for a princess!"

On instinct her wings snapped out and the juvenile falcon landed docility on her new master's shoulder as the crone turned and walked away. Soon the only evidence of their encounter that remained was a small pile of discarded armor in the middle of a desert.

* * *

"Damn unreliable runes." The woman glared at the owl now sitting in a nest of winter clothes. The owl glared back. "Two girls and still no swans! Just Worthless, now Ugly! Where are the princesses? I just want! One! Princess!"

She stomped her feet and screwed up her already fairly unkempt hair in her frustration before letting out a scream. The owl that was once a girl named Suno was unimpressed with the tantrum.

The bird of prey that were sat on her shoulders however looked wary and concerned. Suno was just glad that it'd managed to avoid getting hit while the woman flailed about. If what she'd gathered was true, she was in the same position as it, or rather, she was.

Like flipping a switch, the witch abruptly stopped her tantrum. "I shouldn't have taken your name, I admit it. It's a horrible name, it even sounds completely ugly." She sniffed, "almost as worthless as this one's," the woman roughly jarred the shoulder the bird of prey was sat on. The falcon squawked but quickly regained her balance. "But since you saw fit to give it to me, I'll keep it. It's mine now and I won't give it back."

She snapped her fingers and without the former girl's permission, she flew to the woman's waiting hand. She stroked Suno's feathers with her free hand. "I suppose I'll just make do with you. Even if you are the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Another pet might even be worth the trouble since this one is completely useless."

She continued to talk to herself and supposedly to the two captive girls as she turned and walked away, the snow crunched under her feet. Suno turned her head and looked behind them. The witch's footprints filled up and vanished. As if she were never there at all.

* * *

"Pocawatha, huh. That's such a lovely name. I think I'll keep it."

"Huh?" The girl with braided twin tails only had time to blink in confusion before the seemingly harmless old woman made a gesture and her world filled with pain. She might have screamed, though she was in too much pain to tell.

However even if she did scream it would have been pointless. There was no one near the field she was in save for her, the woman and the woman's birds. If there was anyone else around, in the back of her mind Pocawatha doubted they'd be brave enough to see what was going on.

Abruptly the pain stopped and she found herself to be much smaller than she had been before. She heard a tisk as her clothes were pulled away from her and thrown to the side.

"Still not a swan. Bah! Just a foolish village girl in the end." She blinked up at the voice. The woman looked disappointed, but not surprised. The birds on her shoulders however were gazing at her with sympathy and understanding. The woman continued to mutter things, something about runes and long shots that Pocawatha couldn't hear, before smiling at her.

Not even the threat of being taken by a shapeshifting demon scared her as much as that smile did. This time she didn't think she could count on a strange but strong boy coming along to save her.

"Well, at least you cannot possibly be as useless or as ugly as the other two." She hummed in thought, "though you do seem rather stupid." She laughed as if that was the funniest thing in the world. The small young eagle that was once a girl shivered. "Worthless, Ugly and Stupid! What a trio I have!"

Pocawatha sincerely regretted wandering so far from home as she used her newly given wings to fly to the woman's other shoulder. If she were to return to her normal life, she was never picking flowers again!

* * *

The night was dark. To be fair though, all nights had been dark ever since Jackie Chun destroyed the moon about a year ago. Goku still wasn't sure why he did that but the young boy supposed it didn't really matter too much.

Regardless, the night was dark and Goku was alone in a forest. It was just fine by him though, it was the perfect place for training. Granted, right now he was looking for dinner and maybe a good place to sleep. Still it could count as training. Especially since he wasn't finding any food.

He sighed and sat down at the base of a tree. "So…hungry…" he moaned. his stomach agreed, letting out a loud roar.

Goku had figured there'd be plenty of things to eat in a forest. That had always been the case with his homeland around Mt. Pauzu. This forest was nothing like that jungle though. There were trees but that was right around where the similarities began and ended. While Mt. Pauzu was teeming with life, the monkey tailed boy hadn't even seen so much as a mosquito since entering this forest.

He gently hit his head against the trunk as his stomach growled again. Was tree bark edible? Even if it tasted horrible, if it filled him up it wouldn't be that bad, right?

There should be mushrooms in a forest, but he hadn't smelled any of those. Or any animals for that matter. This forest was weird. No mushrooms, no animals, no bugs; even the plants, though somewhat familiar looking, smelled funny.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't eat tree bark. At least, not from these trees.

His stomach growled a third time. He hadn't been this hungry since the first night he trained with Master Roshi after losing the rock test.

Goku stared up at the dark canopy and yawned. Being hungry made him tired, it didn't help that it was pretty late. And, well, if he couldn't fix being hungry he could at least mostly fix being tired. With a defeated huff he shifted to a more comfortable position against the tree and closed his eyes. Maybe in the morning he'd be able to pick up the scent of something good.

When Goku woke up he found himself locked in a dungeon.

"Huh. That's weird."


	2. Chapter 2

Goku wasn't sure what was going on. He'd fallen asleep in a really weird forest and then woke up in the middle of an equally weird room. It was missing a wall. Sort of. Rather than a wall it was just a bunch of metal poles attached to the ceiling and floor and a few more attaching the poles to each other. Speaking of poles though, his own power pole was missing, along with the rest of his stuff. That was something he'd need to fix soon.

Anyway if the bars counted as a wall then the room he was in was fairly small. It was probably just big enough for someone like Bulma to lay down in, but not much bigger than that. There was also nothing in it except for him and an empty bucket. Beyond that was a much bigger room with other small not quite rooms.

There was also, he noticed, a complete lack of food. Which considering how hungry he'd been when he'd fallen asleep was nothing less than cruel. His empty belly echoed his thoughts with a noisy complaint.

Goku crawled with shaking limbs to the wall opposite the pole wall and curled up against it. He eyed the not-really-a-wall tiredly. The metal poles didn't look very strong, if he wasn't so hungry he could easily bend open a gap big enough for him to leave the tiny room. And then find food, and his stuff and then more food. Then maybe he'd figure out where he was and how he got here.

The faint sounds of footsteps jerked him out of his thoughts, along with the ki of someone approaching. The ki was strangely familiar, as if he'd met them before, but Goku honestly couldn't place it. It probably didn't matter too much; if he'd met them before and they were friendly, he'd probably get some food. If they weren't, well, he'd just have to get food some other way.

With a clank and a creak a door he couldn't see opened and in walked a girl. Well, probably a girl, they had the chest butt like Launch and Bulma though it wasn't as big as theirs and it thankfully wasn't as butt like either. She was about two heads taller than he was and in excellent shape; her arms and legs had good muscle definition and her body didn't jiggle nearly as much as Bulma's or Launch's did. Well her chest butt did a little, but strangely that seemed to be standard for girls from what Goku had gathered. Master Roshi and Krillin really liked it when they jiggled; Goku didn't see the appeal though.

Anyway, her hair was long, straight, black and fell to her mid back. She wasn't wearing any shoes, which was weird cause it was a little chilly but she didn't seem to notice. The only thing she actually was wearing was something he'd heard Bulma call a dress. It was white and thin and it looked like it floated along after her. It went to her knees.

Her scent was sweet, kind of. Again, it was familiar but it was lacking something he felt it should have. And there was something there that shouldn't be there. However, Goku couldn't pin down what was wrong in either case.

She smiled at him. "Hello. You woke up quickly." Her voice was light and for some reason she looked kind of sad.

"Hi," his stomach growled out a greeting as well. "Do you have anything to eat?"

The girl let out a startled giggle. "That's- yeah. Is- is there anything in particular you want?"

"It doesn't matter too much, as long as there's a lot!" Even just the idea of her getting him food was making him drool. "Meat, rice, vegetables. I'm so hungry I could eat anything! Even carrots." He didn't particularly like carrots that much, which said something because he was fine with eating just about anything else.

"Hm, I'll see what I can do." She tapped a finger to her chin, "it might not be a lot, though."

"That's fine, anything's better than nothing."

"Alright, if you insist. You're kind of strange though, most people don't ask for food first thing when they wake up in a cell."

She left before he could reply to that. Really, why wouldn't someone think of food right when they wake up?

* * *

The girl known to her fellow prisoners as Falcon had not expected to see Goku again. Especially not in this situation. She hadn't expected him to still be so short either. It was like he hadn't grown at all. It probably wasn't something she should pay so much attention to at the moment but he just looked so cute and huggable!

Regardless, him being there gave her some hope. His presence likely would give hope to the other two as well considering all that he'd done for the three of them in the past. After all, it wasn't like there were that many monkey tailed boys in the world, especially not with that crazy hair.

Even if he couldn't help them this time, the fact that he was there was still uplifting. At least for her. After all, he hadn't actually done much to give her and her father their home or to bring the Ox King back from his bout of madness, that was her father's Master Roshi, but he was the catalyst of it all.

First thing's first though, she needed to get him some food. If he was as hungry as he sounded then she'd give him as much food as she could. There was just a little problem though.

Aviana.

The witch who stole her name and the name of the two other girls nearly a year ago. Considering what she'd done to the three of them, Falcon doubted Aviana was her real name.

The witch was horribly stingy when it came to, well, anything involving the three of them. Including food. She usually gave them enough of a supply to keep them healthy so long as they carefully rationed it but there was not a lot of wiggle room.

Giving Goku a decent meal would mean they'd be a little hungry for a few days. Anything more would mean they'd be pretty much skipping meals. Honestly Falcon should be talking it over with Owl and Eagle considering it will affect them too, but she doubted she'd be able to find and talk it over with them without Aviana noticing. They'd probably be fine with it regardless. It was _Goku_ after all and more than that, it seemed like he hadn't eaten for a while judging by the sound of his stomach.

She could probably get away with slipping him a little more of her food, she could take being a little more hungry than the others. Hopefully it'd be enough.

That decided she slipped into their larder and began pulling little bits of food from here and there onto a tray. Nothing too fancy and nothing that required cooking, she didn't have time for that. A couple slices of dried meat here, some leftover rice and noodles there and soon enough the tray was heaping with food.

Smiling to herself she made her way back to the dungeons with her haul. It was a twisty and winding pathway and her full hands meant she couldn't take some of the short cuts she'd used to get there. But that was okay, Aviana was busy in the lab today, as usual. Eagle was helping her this time. Falcon sort of wished she'd be there too, if only so that Aviana wouldn't take out all her frustrations on the other girl.

"Hungry Fal?"

Squeaking, Falcon nearly dropped the tray. It was only due to her previous training and excellent reflexes that kept any of the food from falling to the floor. As soon as she was certain she wouldn't lose any food Falcon turned to pout at the speaker.

It was Owl. Of course it was Owl. She was the only other person who was not with their master or locked up in the dungeons. Despite the light tone in her voice, the strawberry blonde was staring at the tray with confusion.

"We have a guest."

Owl perked up. "That's right! You brought them in didn't you? Still, seems like a lot of food for one person."

"He sounded hungry and well…" Falcon couldn't help the blush creeping up her cheeks. "It's Goku."

The gasp echoed through the hall. "Goku? Little fighter boy Goku? With the cute hair? He's here?"

"Yes."

The squeal the younger girl unleashed was almost deafening. Falcon quickly shushed her, sound could travel a surprising distance in the tower and Falcon didn't want Aviana to know about their guest just yet. Falcon may have to bring everyone she found into the dungeon, but she had no orders to tell Aviana right away or at all. She'd much rather keep it that way for as long as possible. The one time Aviana knew about a prisoner… well, Falcon never wanted to cook penguin ever again.

"I knew it! I knew he'd come to save us!"

"I think it was an accident really. He seemed more confused than anything else." Falcon paused and frowned thoughtfully, "he didn't even seem to recognize me, to be honest."

Owl huffed, "you say that, but he's still here. It must be some sort of fate."

"Hmm, maybe but… do you think he could beat our master?" Not that Falcon wanted to doubt Goku's strength or capabilities or that she didn't want him to save them. However Aviana was clever and tricky. Fighting her would be completely different to defeating a weak pig or an army outpost. Besides, Falcon didn't want to see him get hurt, or worse.

"Of course!" Owl flicked some of her hair back behind her shoulder, "it's Goku. That's what he does, isn't it? Besides, you know he's strong."

Falcon frowned as they continued to move down the halls. To her, as much as she wanted to get free, it felt rather selfish to expect Goku to save them. He didn't owe them his help, nor did she believe they had anything to offer him for their help. Oh, she didn't doubt that he would gladly help them once he learned of their situation, however it did seem unfair that they couldn't offer him anything in return. All the other times they'd been able to offer him something he wanted, those weird star orbs, but this time… this time they had nothing. More than that she felt like it wasn't his right to fix things this time.

She shook her head. "We thought the same thing when that one guy came."

Owl grimaced and shuddered. "Okay, point. But Goku's probably much stronger than he was."

"She didn't beat him with strength. Or by fighting though." Aviana hadn't actually had to lift a finger to defeat him.

Her friend and fellow prisoner quickly stepped in front of her, glaring. "You sound like you don't want Goku to save us."

"I don't." Her quick response surprised them both. Taking a deep breath, Falcon quickly tried to organize her thoughts. "I just… call it a gut feeling, but I can't help but think that if he stays something terrible will happen. More than that, it seems wrong to expect him to fix everything." Falcon made a frustrated noise. She wasn't sure how else to articulate what she felt. The bad feeling with regards to asking for his help was mostly a lie. In truth it felt like asking for his help would be a failure on her part. "I-"

Owl cut her off with a huff. "Fine, I get it! I'm honestly not sure if you're just too stubborn, or if you want to somehow impress him or what. But you're really determined not to get his help. Even though he could save us."

The older girl winced, "Owl…" Falcon didn't want to think it was her stubbornness, though she could admit to being very stubborn, or that she would risk her friends just to impress her crush. Was her reasoning any better than what Owl put forth though? Aviana always called her worthless, would always go to her first with the most dangerous experiments. Falcon was also the strongest of the three of them. It just felt natural to act as their shield after a while. Going to Goku for help felt like admitting defeat, it felt like saying Aviana was right and she was worthless.

Owl threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Hell, maybe Master Aviana did something to you, I wouldn't put it past her. But fine. I'll go along with it for now. However," she pointed dramatically at Falcon's face, "if he asks I'm telling him everything. Got it?"

Falcon's shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank you." What Owl pointed out about Aviana could be true, even if it wasn't; Falcon couldn't remember her doing anything that would make her reluctant to accept help from someone like Goku, but that didn't actually mean much. If that was the case, there wasn't much they could do about it anyway. "In that case, could you go to that storeroom?" she pointed to a door not far from the entrance to the dungeon. "I put his things there for him in case it took a while for him to come to."

"Alright. You'll be telling Eagle about this though." With that the other girl split off to do her errand and Falcon entered the dungeon once more.

The door opened with another groaning creak and Falcon made a mental note to oil the hinges. Goku had moved from the far wall to press up against the bars, his nose was twitching. Had he smelled the food?

Falcon gave him a smile which he returned. "Sorry it took so long." She set the tray well within reach of his hands which quickly went to work demolishing the meal she'd pulled together. She looked away shyly, suddenly feeling unconfident in her choice of foods. "I wasn't able to actually cook anything, so I hope what's there is alright." He made a garbled sound of appreciation. At least, Falcon hoped it was appreciation. "Anyway, I might not be able to get anything more for you, so please try to make this meal last, okay?"

The wounded sound he made drew her eyes back to him. Only to find Goku had cleared off the entire tray.

"No more?" He sounded a bit lost, but Falcon was still in shock at the sight of the empty tray. There had been enough for at least two meals on there. How did he eat so fast?

"No, I'm sorry." If it were just her she would have given him all she could in a heartbeat. However, it wasn't her alone in this situation and she couldn't afford to even give him all of her own food. It made her disappointed in herself, but it just wasn't worth the risk.

Goku pouted and placed the tray aside. Despite his disappointment, he smiled at her anyway. "Thanks for giving me what you could. It helped a lot."

Falcon couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks.

"Are you okay? Your face is all red."

"Yes! I'm fine! It's just uh, nothing, I'm okay." She waved her hands in front of her, trying to assure the boy she was alright despite her red face and pounding heart.

Falcon needed to get it together. She was fourteen for goodness sake! What was she doing blushing and stuttering like a child? And from a single thank you? Owl and Eagle will laugh so hard at her if they knew she was acting this way. Then again it was Goku, so maybe they'd understand. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

"Anyway it's good that you woke up so quickly. You need to leave as soon as possible."

"Eh? Really?" He frowned quizzically, "why?"

"This whole thing was a small misunderstanding." Owl spoke up from behind her and Falcon nearly jumped. The other girl had Goku's pack in her hands and she looked irritated with Falcon.

For a brief moment Falcon thought it was because she was the one Goku was talking to rather than her. Then she recalled the conversation not even five minutes before and hid her wince as she went to retrieve the key to Goku's cell. Yeah, she could understand why Owl was angry with her. Eagle will be as well.

"So don't worry." She chirped unlocking the door, "you can be out an on your way as soon as we get you out of the forest."

Owl nodded and answered the question Goku no doubt was about to voice. "The forest is a trap, people can't find their way out and then it puts them to sleep. Well, unless you're one of us. So don't worry, we'll lead you to safety."

"Thanks, I thought something was weird about it. There wasn't any bugs or anything in there." He accepted his pack and quickly sorted through his things, retrieving an orange orb and stowing it into his battered gi before tucking his staff into a sheath on his back. "By the way, I'm Goku. What're your names?"

The look Owl gave her this time was more amused. "You didn't introduce yourself?"

Falcon blushed again. "I was distracted."

Owl just snickered. "Anyway, we know your name; you may not remember it but we've both met you before. For reasons we can't say," the irritated look was back and Falcon sighed in resigned acceptance of it, "we are unable to state the names we went by before. For now, you can call me Owl."

"And I'm Falcon."

"Huh. I thought you seemed kind of familiar." He looked at Owl with some recognition and then at Falcon with less. Falcon couldn't quite help the jealousy that rose up in her chest. She quickly squashed it down. This was neither the time nor the place for it.

Instead she said, "there's a third one, we call her Eagle, but it doesn't look like you'll be able to meet her today." Because it didn't seem right to leave the third girl out just because she was with Aviana.

Goku pouted at that while Owl huffed and started shooing him out the door.

Just as they reached it, however Falcon froze as a vicious hot and cold feeling attacked her spine. Long practice kept her from flinching or stumbling. From the look on her face, Owl felt it too or at least, something like it. Aviana was done with her work and she was coming their way.

Goku looked at the two of them with some concern. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Did she say that too quickly? She'd said it too quickly. "I-We just remembered something we needed to do. But it's fine. I'll take care of it."

Owl gave her a worried look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go. I'll be fine."

The other girl's expression firmed and before anything else was said Falcon split off from them. She just needed to distract her master for a little bit.

* * *

Owl couldn't help but bite her lip. This wasn't good. Aviana hated Falcon. Owl didn't know why, neither did Eagle or even Falcon herself. However, there was always a small selfish part of her that was relived. If Falcon wasn't there, Aviana might turn her attention to Eagle or even Owl herself. It was never good to have Aviana's attention.

"Hey," she turned her head enough towards Goku to let him know she was listening, however, she couldn't quite bring herself to face him right now. Not when he'd see the worry on her face. "I can find my own way out, if you want to help her." He sounded concerned. Whether he had an idea of the danger Falcon had placed herself in, or if he just picked up on Owl's own worry, the girl didn't know. Having him wonder about himself though would do no one any good, least of all Goku.

So she shook her head. "No. Like we said, you won't be able to find your way out on your own. Let's go." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the exit, away from where she could feel Aviana's presence.

They could always feel her; it was a bit hit or miss with regards to the exact distance but they knew which direction she was and they knew when she was within a certain range. None were sure if it was magic or some strange communal sixth sense, but they always knew where she was and how far away they were from her. Each one felt it differently but to Owl, at least, it was a foul oily feeling against her skin that got worse the closer their master was. It always made her feel like she'd never be clean again. She didn't know the details about how the other two girls knew Aviana was near, but Owl did know that Falcon used to flinch and Eagle would be nauseous for hours.

It felt like forever before the oily feeling faded to the point where Owl didn't think she'd have to scrub her own skin off. By the time it did they were only a quarter through the forest. Though she knew they weren't actually very far from the tower, Owl couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. At the very least, Aviana wouldn't stumble upon them. Unless the witch was toying with them. Owl wouldn't put it past her, but did that mean she was playing into Aviana's hands by leading Goku out? Did the witch have something worse planned now?

Goku pulled her from her half panicked thoughts with a gentle tug on her hand. "Hey, are you okay?"

Owl was taken aback by the sudden question and laughed nervously. "Uh, yes? Why wouldn't I be?"

"You smell scared." She blinked at his answer and she was somewhat startled to find that he had the same serious expression he'd had when she told him about the Red Ribbon Army outpost terrorizing her home. "I didn't recognize it before, but you and Falcon smell like you're afraid."

"I…" Well, she had told Falcon she would tell him everything if he asked. Still, it in a way felt like a betrayal; Falcon was the type to rarely ask for anything, at least in regards to her wants and needs. Owl could distinctly recall several times when the older girl would beg and grovel for medicine when either she or Eagle were sick. In the end, the memory of Falcon doing that for her is what caused Owl to nod. "Yeah. We are. I…" She trailed off, spotting an artfully fallen tree she led him to it and they both sat.

Once they were settled she continued. "We have a master…Well, more like an owner," she grimaced at the word. "Our master calls herself Aviana. She came to us one by one and stole our names. That's why, even if you ask, we wouldn't be able to tell you who we are. Our names, our very lives belong to Master Aviana." Now Owl had to let out a huff in frustration. "She didn't even want to own us in the first place! She's just keeping us because we're convenient and she likes to hurt us!" Goku twitched beside her and Owl bit her lip. She hadn't meant to let that slip, just…It was hard to talk about it with Eagle or Falcon; they were in the same state as her after all.

Well, mostly. "She hurts Falcon the most. Master Aviana hates her, but sometime Falcon will also do things to get in trouble. If Eagle and I are sick or if one of us messes up Falcon will take the blame. And…" Her mind flashed back to the worst punishment Aviana had ever inflicted on Falcon. She'd been bedridden for nearly a month and had been coughing up blood for most of that. Owl had never been so scared before. Even thinking of it now makes her breath hitch and her eyes water. "She never complains. She's just glad we're not hurt and-" As much as she wanted to, Owl couldn't continue talking about it. It felt like too much.

"Master Aviana wants to find a princess." If Goku was startled by the subject change, Owl couldn't see it. Not that she was facing the boy in the first place. Her gaze was focused solely on the ground by her feet. "She wants to find one and turn them into a swan so she can eat her. I don't know why, but she's obsessed with doing that." She took a calming breath and looked up to the dark canopy. "That's why she made this forest. To trap unwary travelers so that she can get information from them." A small smile grew on her lips, though it felt a bit bitter to her. "It hasn't worked out too well though. Because of the size we're usually able to get anyone we find out of this place before she notices." She couldn't help but grimace at the memory of their failure. "Usually."

"What happens if you don't?"

"Same thing more or less as what happened to us. Only instead of keeping them around she just turns them into a bird and eats them."

"She eats them?" He didn't sound nearly as horrified as she expected him to be, not nearly as horrified as she had been. He didn't look it either, when she glanced at him. She pushed it out of her mind. He probably didn't quite understand what she was talking about.

"Yeah. Thankfully she sees them as a delicacy so she hasn't made us eat any of them yet."

They lapsed into a small silence before Goku broke it. "How can I help?"

Owl had to think about it. For all their wishing and wanting to be free, none of them had ever really thought about how to go about doing it. None of them had dared. Even thinking of Goku or someone else rescuing them was always rather vague and fanciful. In the end, Owl just shrugged. "Kill Master Aviana, I guess." That seemed like the most straightforward way of going about it. "Or win our names back, somehow. I'm still not sure how this name steeling thing works." A quick glance showed Goku frowning at the ground in contemplation.

In all honesty, Owl felt kind of bad asking him to outright kill someone for them. Before all they wanted was for him to beat someone up, or to find something in Falcon's case. Though Owl didn't know how he'd gotten through the fighters in the Red Ribbon Army outpost, Goku didn't seem like the type to kill others if he could help it.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" His voice was quiet, something she hadn't thought possible from what little she knew of him. He was probably still thinking about her request.

"Falcon didn't want to ask you for your help." That got him to look at her. The offended look on his face was actually kind of funny. "Not that she thinks you can't help, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't want you to get hurt. Or for you to feel guilty if you don't want to help- which is completely fine, by the way," Owl reassured when Goku looked like he'd object to what she'd said. "I asked for something really big just now."

"Yeah, but I'm going to help you anyway."

She smiled at him, "thank you," then her expression turned serious. "If that's the case you'll need to know a few things. First of all, no matter what happens, what she says and does, don't ever tell master Aviana your name. I mean it. Even if she guesses and guesses it right, you can't let her know that it's your name." She took a moment to let that sink into his head before continuing. "You also can't let her know that we know your name or that we know your correct name. If she knows she'll make us tell her."

"Okay, got it."

Owl was about to tell him more about what Aviana was like when a mental tug on the back of her mind distracted her. Her master was calling her. So instead she sighed. "Be careful then. She's trickier than she seems." He nodded in understanding and Owl stood up. "Alright, try to keep up." In less than two blinks there was an owl sitting where she'd been.

She quickly and expertly shook herself free of the lightweight slip Aviana had them all wear. She didn't know what type of owl she'd changed into, nor did she care, but it was white with a bunch of fine brown stripes going up her stomach. Owl hated it; hated the form, how she became an owl in the first place, she even hated that Goku now would see her like this, but there was little she could do about it. Still, she glared at Goku when he made a noise of admiration. Being an actual owl though, she couldn't say anything.

With a well-practiced move she grabbed her dress and took off. Flying low so the boy could follow her.

* * *

As much as Eagle hated working in the labs with Aviana, she couldn't say she minded the actual lab work. It was more interesting than she'd thought it'd be the first time she was taken to the lab at the top of the tower. The witch seemed to believe that she was genuinely an idiot, as such she was fairly careless with leaving her books and notes lying about. Slowly but surely she learned various things from proper lab safety to the number of crystals needed to summon the spirit of a demon from the beyond.

Granted if anything went wrong Aviana would be quick to blame her, even if she had nothing to do with what was wrong, however that was par for the course when dealing with the mad woman. Falcon usually helped keep Aviana from focusing on Eagle, but today she was patrolling the forest for any unfortunate or adventures souls who wondered into their territory.

Fortunately Aviana was a creature of habit, so Eagle could generally predict and figure out how to best avoid any problems. It worked until Aviana looked into a mirror and cackled. She'd never done that before and with great trepidation Eagle was soon following the witch out of the lab and down to the dungeons. It wasn't until she saw Falcon that she realized something was wrong.

When they were first captured, Falcon had taught them about ready stances along with basic self-defense to Eagle and Owl just in case they needed to defend themselves. Ready stances, Falcon had said, were so that a person could move in any direction as quickly as possible if they needed to either dodge or strike. Aviana might not have noticed, and Falcon's ready stance could be quite subtle, but the older girl only went into that stance whenever she was nervous or uncertain about something.

Falcon met them at the base of the stairs and Eagle felt her heart sink. Despite her blank face, Falcon was in a ready stance.

She didn't greet either of them, Aviana disliked it whenever any of them spoke out of turn. Instead a gesture from their master had Falcon joining them in their journey to the dungeons. Falcon seemed to become increasingly more nervous as they got closer to their destination; had she found someone in the woods?

Eagle inwardly shuddered, having Aviana deal with anyone they capture once was more than enough. Any creature with such intelligent eyes should never be slaughtered and eaten like an animal.

Then again if that was the case, Falcon would be shaking. The older girl was nervous and scared, but she wasn't shaking. It was a relief to finally get to the cells and to find that there was no one there. However, that didn't explain why Falcon was so nervous or why Aviana went to the dungeons in the first place.

Then Eagle noticed the tray; it was a food tray in the middle of a cell. So there had been a prisoner and, for whatever reason one of the other two had fed them. Probably Falcon, she tended to feed others at any opportunity, though she wouldn't put it past Owl to do so if she thought they were cute. Unfortunately it seems they hadn't been able to clean up in time. With luck Aviana won't notice it though.

However it was suspicious that Aviana would choose now to check on the dungeon. Had she been spying on them with that mirror from earlier? If that was the case they'd be in trouble. Eagle's stomach dropped at the sight of Aviana's smile.

"Well now, I admit, I had been quite surprised to see you here, you worthless wretch." Eagle shifted uncomfortably, Aviana hadn't been at all surprised. Falcon must have noticed that too. "Didn't I order you to patrol my forest?"

Eagle's friend swallowed. "You did, Master, and I did patrol it. I went over the entire forest twice." Despite her obvious nerves, her voice didn't shake. Eagle always envied how calm Falcon usually acted when dealing with Aviana.

"Yet you're here."

"You did not specify how long I must patrol for, Master. I believed my patrol to have been sufficient."

"You didn't find anyone, did you?"

"As you ordered, should I find a person in the forest, I would bring them here and lock them in one of the cells."

"So you're saying you didn't find anyone on your patrol."

"There is no one locked in this room Master."

"I can see that!" Both Eagle and Falcon flinched at her sharp tone. That had apparently been the wrong answer. "You must think I'm as thick at that girl," she jabbed her thumb at Eagle, "if you think you can get away with lying to me!"

"I'm not lying to you Master! I can't tell you a lie, you know I can't!" Falcon cried as she backed away from their master's quickly approaching form. She was soon cornered against a cell wall.

"Then tell me why you're avoiding the question." It was always scary whenever Aviana went from loud to quiet. She was always worse whenever she got quiet. If that quiet tone was aimed at her or Owl, Falcon would do something to draw their master's attention. No matter what happened to her she protected the other two. However Eagle couldn't return the favor. Even with Aviana bearing down on Falcon, with the other brunette looking scared and helpless, Eagle couldn't make herself do anything other than watch and tremble with fear.

It was worse this time, because if she couldn't distract Aviana from Falcon, the other girl would answer her question and they'd lose one of the few loopholes they had. Her inaction would cause a lot more people to die at Aviana's will and they, all three of them, would still get disciplined.

Yet, despite knowing that, she still could only shiver and stand silently. The memories of the last time she'd been punished, not even three days ago, played through her head. Despite knowing that Falcon had faced worse for protecting her, Eagle still couldn't bring herself to return that kindness.

"Because if I don't tell you then you can't stop me!" Falcon bit out and Eagle's chance to act passed. "Because you never ordered me to tell you whenever I brought someone in or to keep them locked up."

Aviana grabbed her by the throat. "So the little useless worm thought she could pull a fast one on me, is that it?" Falcon made a choked noise as their master squeezed. "Trying to find loopholes in my orders? Defying me with silence? How dare you!"

Falcon didn't make a sound as she hit the floor after Aviana tossed her to the side. Eagle could see beads of blood starting to form from where the witch's nails had dug into her neck. With a cough she started to stand.

Aviana stared coldly at her. "Don't make me laugh. You can't hide anything from me! What makes you think you've been able to do anything? Even if you led the one's you found out of the woods, what makes you think you succeeded in saving them?"

"Well you didn't find out about them before now, did you." Her voice sounded raw and from the look on her face, Falcon hadn't intended to say that. Or at least, not quite like how she said it.

Despite the anger in her face, Aviana smiled. "Like I said, you can't hide anything from me. You might have, against all odds, managed to pull the wool over my eyes before, but no more. Now should I punish you before or after getting that ugly girl back here?"

Falcon got up gingerly, rubbing at her throat, smearing the blood on her neck as she went to where Eagle was still standing, still shaking and helpless. "I would prefer before," she grimaced, clearly she still couldn't quite control what she said at the moment. Eagle gently touched her shoulder, in both comfort and as an apology. Falcon leaned into her touch slightly, enough to let Eagle know she was forgiven and as a thanks for the comfort but not enough so that Aviana would notice.

"Well in that case, we should call for our ugly little owl." With a cackle she led the two of them out of the tower.


End file.
